500 mL bottle from the LCBO; no date given. This is the first time I've ever had a steam beer - and while I'm glad to tick off another style, it also means that anyone who bothers to read this review should probably take it with a larger grain of salt than usual.

Pours a lovely golden-amber colour, completely translucent and highly effervescent. Topped with slightly more than one finger of puffy, white head that lasts a few minutes before dissipating into a thin, creamy cap. Enjoyable aroma of biscuity malts, caramel and some floral citrus notes - good, but kind of weak in intensity.

The flavour is pleasant, and well-balanced. The bready, biscuity malt and slight honey sweetness work well together with the floral, vaguely herbal elements of the hops. There are also hints of orangepeel and appleskin, so the overall profile has a nice fruity character to it. Dry, citrusy finish with lingering bitterness. Light-bodied, with good, crisp carbonation that is neither too powerful nor too weak. Easy to drink like your typical lager/pale ale, and the balanced flavours would make this a pretty good session option.

Final Grade: 4.03, an A-. This is the second Icelandic beer I've had - both from this brewery - and I've been quite impressed with each of them. I've been meaning to try a steam beer for a while now, and although Skjalfti doesn't exactly have the brand recognition of Anchor Steam, I still think this made an excellent introduction to the style. It's a little pricy to be a realistic session option in these parts, but easily worth a try, and I will probably pick it up again some time.

Look (3.5/5) ~ Pours a deep gold, which is a bit light for the style. Clarity is fairly good, but not ‘brilliant.’ Head is good: cream coloured; raises well of an average pour; falls at a normal pace with no real lacing; and comes to a cap that lasts quite a while.

Smell (3.5/5) ~ A decent malt-hop balance. Hops have a good helping of pine and a bit of floral to them. The malt is caramel-like and nutty. Fairly crisp finish. I think that the aroma hops are not present enough for the style, although the smell is nice and balanced.

Taste (4.5/5) ~ A great balance of malt and hop bitterness. The malt is bread-crust and caramel, with a hint of melanoidin fruitiness (almost grape-like). The hops are of the same character on the palate as on the nose with a bit more of an herbal note, though I would characterize the hop flavor as medium-low. Hop bitterness is assertive and sets of the malt extremely well: the finish fades into a nice mix of lighter malt notes and hop bitterness. Finish is average-dry.

Feel (3.5/5) ~ Medium body and medium-low carbonation. There is a bit of an oily, mouth-coating feel from the hop oils, which compliments the long finish nicely by giving you something to chew on.

Generally, I’m not that big of a fan of brews where the hop bitterness outweighs the hop flavour (but that’s a personal preference and I’ll have to dial it in with a few more steam beers to see what’s good for the style) Anyway, I found that the style was really well balanced and delicious. A good one!

Clear copper body and a pile of off-white head. Decent retention and patch lace. Bready and floral aromas predominate, with lesser notes of citrus and sulfur. Toasted malt and tangerine hop flavour, with balancing bitterness in the finish. Not big and bold by any means, just a good balanced profile. Light-bodied but not thin, low carbonation, smooth. Nice session lager.

A: Pours a nice clear copper colour with 1 finger worth of off white fluffy head. Eventually goes down to nothing and didn’t leave much for lacing. The colour of this beer is what was responsible for most of the points for appearance.

S: Bready malt, caramel, some grassy hops and a bit of sweet citrus on the finish.

T: Grassy hops and sweet citrus but is then taken over by a malty grainy taste.

M: Light carbonation with a light body.

O: Nothing crazy about this beer. I could easily turn this into a session beer but might get a little bored after awhile.

500 mL bottle, chilled and poured into a pilsner glass. Best before: 04.01.2012

Appearance- Pours a dark copper colour with three fingers of billowing fluffy off white almost tan head that takes a while to dwindle down to a nice thick bubbly top that never really leaves, leaving tonnes of lacing throughout the glass right till the finish.

Smell- The nose on this one is very sweet, right off the bat I am hit with an intense aroma of caramel/toffee malts, some mild grassy hops in there as well but not overpowering in anyway, the aromas actually really remind me of a doppelbock.

Taste- Is much the same as the smells, the taste comes through with a dominant sweet caramel/toffee malt flavour mixed with a nice grassy hop flavour, I detect a very mild touch of citrusy fruits in there as well.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied with very good carbonation, this is a very smooth and easy drinking beer, it does finish a little on the dry side though.

Overall- This is a very interesting beer, right away this kind of reminded me of a doppelbock from the smells and even initially on the tastes as well. I did really enjoy this one although I kind of had low expectations, which I am quickly finding out that these Scandinavian offerings are a little more above average than I initially thought. Great balance although there is not a whole lot going on in this beer, but I do like the ice sweet caramel bread malts mixed with the mild hop presence and an even more mild citrusy fruit presence in there as well. All in all I wish I would have picked up a few more of this one because I actually liked it!